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Job summary

Main area
Family Therapy
Grade
Band 8a
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
364-A-5261-Y
Employer
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Basildon and Rochford
Town
Trust Wide
Salary
£50,952 - £57,349 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
08/05/2024 23:59

Employer heading

Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust logo

Systemic Family Therapist

Band 8a

About Us

EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:

  • We are among the largest employers in the in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
  • We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.

EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.

Our vision and values

Our Vision

“To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care”.

Our Purpose

“We care for people every day. What we do together, matters”.

Our Values

  • We Care
  • We Learn
  • We Empower

Our strategic objectives

  • We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
  • We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
  • We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
  • We will help our communities to thrive.

Our services

  • Mental Health Services
  • Community Health Services
  • Learning Disabilities Services
  • Social Care

Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory. 

Job overview

It is an exciting time to join EPUT as we develop treatment pathways, new processes and therapeutic provision to meet the needs of our clients with a diagnosis or traits of personality disorder. Systemic Family therapy is a vital contribution to this. This role is a new development in the transformation agenda. The post holder will support clients in the vulnerable transition between ward and home. This can be a difficult time for families and risk can be heightened. The   Family Therapist will start their engagement with clients and families while the client is on the ward and support them at discharge. Practitioners will be working across inpatient, crisis and community teams within the named localities, allowing for a whole systems approach, unencumbered by usual service divides. The transition will be safer for client and family. The decision to continue the therapy with the family in the community is a clinical one and can be continued as is agreed by family and therapist.

Clinically, the roles will be overseen and supervised by the Consultant Psychotherapist and Family Therapist leading the Personality Disorder and Complex Needs team. Practitioners will also regularly work with a wider network of systemic practitioners in the community across EPUT.

Main duties of the job

Operationally, the new family therapist will align with the Transitions Psychology team, a group of practitioners (psychologists and psychological therapists) using evidence based interventions in a trauma informed and user-led approach in order to reduce repeat or long term admissions to psychiatric hospitals. The roles present an exciting opportunity to work both directly and indirectly with Service Users who are requiring additional support in times of transition, most commonly from inpatient to community services. Our Service Users usually arrive with diagnoses of personality disorders and complex trauma; we collaboratively formulate their difficulties in an integrative way, taking added complexities including dual diagnosis, social and economic stressors, attachment/interpersonal difficulties and complex trauma experiences into account.

These Family Therapist posts are newly funded, so they offer novel opportunities for role and service development, service user involvement and audit/service evaluation with a small but supportive and specialised team. Interventions are integrative and attachment/formulation-led, and the service allows for long-term and intensive work as needed. Excellent clinical, interpersonal, team working and risk assessment skills are required. The team are developing close working relationships with both inpatient, crisis and community teams, and the role would offer opportunities to teach, train, consult and supervise where appropriate.

Working for our organisation

EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;

  • Season Ticket Loans
  • NHS discounts for staff
  • Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
  • Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
  • The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
  • Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
  • Day One Flexible Employer

The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment

Join our Staff bank

What is Staff Bank?

Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.

All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.

If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The roles also attract many additional benefits. For the correct applicant, the posts can include up to £6000 in relocation grants and up to £6000 protected funding for CPD (in therapeutic approaches relevant to the role) within the first three years. We value staff wellbeing highly in what can be a challenging, but ultimately hugely rewarding, role: There is access to regular clinical supervision (including specialist therapy supervision facilitated externally), regular managerial supervision, and a peer supervision group.

If you are a Systemic Family Therapist who is looking for a role that allows you to focus first and foremost on your clients; which offers challenge, support and development; which values trauma informed, whole systems approaches; and which places you friendly and dedicated like-minded colleagues, please give us a call to discuss.

As well as applicants from the UK, we encourage overseas candidates to apply for this role. We welcome diversity within our organisation. We can offer guidance for candidates coming from overseas about settling into working in the UK. We understand that, as an overseas candidate, you will have gone through excellent training in your country of origin and we encourage you to join us.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants must have completed a full training in systemic family therapy or have a doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology and a recognised post graduate diploma in family therapy.

Please refer to the JD and PS for detailed responsibilities regarding the role.

Person specification

Education/Qualificatons

Essential criteria
  • Recognized highly specialist formal training to Masters Level or equivalent in Systemic Family Therapy and UKCP Registration.
  • Recognized qualification in one of the core mental health professions (e.g. nursing psychology, occupational therapy, social work) or extensive relevant work Extensive clinical experiences at post- qualification level; minimum 4 years.

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Knowledge of different pathways of care in terms of mental health provision in statutory and voluntary sectors.
  • Knowledge of research methodologies.
  • Knowledge of child protection and protection of vulnerable adults polices.
Desirable criteria
  • Comprehensive knowledge of systemic theory, that gives a clear and coherent understanding of social constructionist, systemic and other key a theories of interaction, relationship, human systems, normal development and psychopathology.
  • An understanding of the role of family therapy in the modern NHS health service.
  • Knowledge of other psychotherapeutic models in determining choice of treatment, suitability and the indication and contra-indications for different models and modalities.
  • Comprehensive knowledge of psychiatric diagnosis and treatments.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveDisability confident leaderImproving working livesArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Essex Family Friendly Employers

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Kathy Swearingen
Job title
Psychotherapy Lead for PD and CN
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
07961 500 338
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